


Dead fuel

by Biorenewologist



Category: Pocket God, Pocket God Comics
Genre: Birthday Present, M/M, Offscreen that is, canon character death, it's Ooga, pgspoilers, post 25 fic, someone needs a hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-11
Updated: 2014-04-11
Packaged: 2018-01-19 00:59:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1449430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Biorenewologist/pseuds/Biorenewologist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the one hand, he should be glad that Ooga hadn't ever had to deal with the things he had gone through. His life might as well have been tripping from one trauma into another, getting back up, and still managing to squeeze in a few moments of genuine happiness in between. </p><p>On the other, Ooga didn't have any real coping mechanisms, because no tragedy stuck for long. He was fire barely held together by skin and blue eyes, blazing up to scorch away the pain and darkness, eternally refusing to back down. Someone like Ooga didn't have time for losing.</p><p>Was it wrong to wish that his friend had more experience with loss? Surely some good would have come out of knowing what it was like to be utterly crushed before he lost his best friend?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dead fuel

**Author's Note:**

> I migrated over here from Tumblr. Don't be fooled; this is nowhere near my first fic. The rest are on deviantArt, where they are gathering dust. 
> 
> Anyways, happy birthday to Gummy, who is actually the dark lord Satan in disguise! Another year under your belt. Maybe this wasn't as happy as it could have been, but it's still a fic of notable length. A KxO and relevant fic with spoilers for 25, at that, and one that will probably not be canon when 26 comes out.

...Of course the Flock weren't trustworthy. Of course. Stupid of him, another stupid mistake.

Actions driven without the proper thought indeed.

Klak had been right about them, but Nox hadn't left him in his hour of need. Asking questions had gotten him knocked out and kidnapped; but he had woken up armed with a headache and precious knowledge, handed down from on high.

Nox had told him that he could help Ooga and the others, even from far away. Those green gems were being transported to a rather unsavory buyer, a threat that no Totem could condone.

And no matter how much he was starting to wonder about his abilities of judgement of character, Klik could still chain together a few scraps of truth to forge a path forward.

One daring escape and simultaneous attempted rescue, several threats with a laser cannon, one plate of well-baked pastries, two recoveries of red gemstones, a good many broken green gems, and one apology to Klak later, they were finally on their way home.

"Are we there yet?" Linsee asked.

"No matter how many times you ask," Teela said patiently, "it is not going to get us there faster."

Klik smiled, hiding it behind a cough.

"How do you know?" she demanded. "Maybe it does."

"Maybe," Teela agreed. "Do you want to test it empirically? All you'd have to do is walk for five minutes while constantly saying 'are we there yet', and then five minutes while not saying it, and I'll measure your speed, acceleration, and spatial displacement. We should probably go on a ways ahead, though, because that might annoy a few people."

"No kidding," Klak muttered.

"Okay, well…" Linsee frowned, not looking too happy with that idea. "Maybe it only works if you say it every ten minutes."

"You say it a good deal more than every ten minutes," Klik said.

"We can test that too!" Teela said brightly. "We'll measure how long it takes you, on average, to say 'are we there yet?' again. And then see if that increases our speed, acceleration or spatial displacement."

"Ack, they're ganging up on me!" Linsee covered her head, making a face at them. "Back me up here, guys."

"I hate to break it to you, but it does get, like, a little old," Toola said. "Sorry, girl."

"It's the journey that matters, not the destination," Dooby said, smiling. "Just be chill, dude."

"Can we just hurry up and go home?" Klak demanded. "We can chill and do science later. Maybe once we're sure those cat-creatures aren't still around."

"The laser's charged again," Klik pointed out. "And we haven't seen any of them around lately."

"So what, we just throw caution to the wind and prance merrily onward without a care in the world?" he demanded.

"Dude, I'm down with that, but maybe it could wait," Dooby agreed.

Klik shook his head. "I'm saying that we should be putting emphasis on speed. The longer we're out here, the more time those things have to find us. And we've seen for ourselves that once they find us, we're at a disadvantage."

Klak frowned. "So... you're saying that we need to hurry up and go home."

"Yes," he said. "With a little less worrying about what the cat creatures might do if they find us, and more making sure that doesn't happen."

He _had_ apologized, after all, and promised to take Klak's advice into account. Lying for the good of the tribe was one thing, but promises weren't lightly broken. Making a habit of doing so would rip apart their society at the seams.

Klak blinked, looking a little surprised at the development. "Oh. Well, sure, then. Let's go."

The pace picked up and conversation trailed off as the six of them pushed on, united by a common goal.

And Klik, more than anyone, knew how important it was to keep the group united…

…in ideals, at least. Even if not everyone was there.

_Relax. Ooga and the others will be fine._

After all, if he could still help them by destroying the green gems, then there had to still be something left to help.

_Klak's rubbing off on you. Don't get dragged down into cynicism again._

He had very pointedly not thought at great length about how much he hated being betrayed. Again.

_Gods, sometimes I wish I could be cynical. It would make life so much easier, if a little more bleak._

But the tribe needed him to be strong, and he had enough problems already. Heaping more self-doubt and negative emotions onto the pile wouldn't help matters.

Still, the tribe needed him to have a clear head, and never denying his instinct to trust and be trustworthy could end up costing them. He was already emotionally exhausted, bottling up the hurt until it was safe to let go. Now was not the time.

Maybe when Ooga got back, and he wasn't the only authority figure they could turn to.

He shot a glance at Klak, who seemed lost in his own thoughts. Not in pessimistic moping, by the looks of it - he was smiling, just a little, and his steps were a little lighter than before. Being taken seriously worked wonders, sometimes.

The only authority figure with _experience_ , at least.

"Dudes," Dooby said. "Check it out."

They had reached a bend that overlooked the coastline, not too far from the shore. The sight and scent of sparkling salt water was oddly comforting - most of his life had been spent with the ocean in plain view, he recalled. Small mercies, fond memories.

Ooga was out there somewhere.

"Something's out there," Teela said. "Look. That dot, it's moving against the current."

They all stopped, peering out at the water. Klik flipped down his glasses, squinting at the tiny blip of movement.

"I can't see it," Linsee complained.

"I totally can!" Toola pointed. "See, right there?"

"Are you sure?" Klak glanced back at her, frowning. "I don't see anything."

"I've got an eye for detail," she said. "Teela's, like, spot on. It's going against the current, and I think it's headed for us."

"I see it," Klik reported, flipping up his glasses and raising his eyeglass up to his face. "I can't tell what it is, though..."

"Of _course_ the mysterious dot is headed right for us," he grumbled. "When are the mysterious dots and robots and sharks and everything else the world has to throw at us, plus a few meteors, not heading right for us?"

It took a moment to find the dot again, but he pinpointed it eventually and peered through the lense.

"The universe is interacting with us," Dooby said. "Means it cares, dude."

"It has a funny way of showing it."

Definitely not just a large piece of driftwood. It was moving too steadily, and the shape was wrong, but he couldn't see clearly with the sun where it was.

Then the thing moved.

"I can get my binoculars," Teela offered. "We can check once and for all."

"No," Klik said, pulling back. "I know what it is."

That movement was impossible to mistake. Only a two-legged creature, one with a slightly unwieldy head and the unsteady stance of being at sea, could move like that.

"Ooga and the others are here," he said.

-:-:-

Those six words had worked like magic, and they had all rushed to the coast on the island paths. His heart was pounding, though he wasn't sure if it was from the run or just the dizzy relief.

There had been a lot of waving to get their attention, and Linsee had hollered a good deal before Klik reminded her that they still had the device that would let them find them just fine on their own.

Or they probably did, at least. He hadn't said that.

Klak hadn't said it, either. He was busy grinning from ear to ear, wider than he had ever seen him grin.

"Moon!" he called, waving. "You're back!"

She raised a hand in reply, but there was no triumph in her poise.

_Something's wrong._

"I only see, like, five of them," Toola said.

"Who's missing?" Klik asked.

"Do you think one of them got captured?" Klak frowned, turning back to look at them. "If so, we're going to have to restock our supplies and head out again."

"I think it might be Nooby," she said.

"He could be sleeping out of view," Teela said. "We shouldn't jump to conclusions."

"Just let it happen," Dooby suggested. "Answers come to those who wait."

"They'll be here shortly," Klik agreed. "Whatever might have happened, we'll know it soon enough."

It _did_ feel like something was wrong. That instinctual part of him, the one that noticed things he couldn't hope to spot consciously and formed connections that served him well when he didn't dare to check a hypothesis, was throwing off a warning signal. A loud one.

Linsee waded out into the water. "Come on, guys, let's go meet them!"

Dooby grinned, splashing after her, and Klak wasn't far behind.

"I think I'll stay here," Toola said, eyeing the water. "Walking home is going to be hard if we're, like, drenched."

Teela was frowning.

"What's wrong?" Klik asked.

"Their supplies," she said. "They don't have enough."

"We'll need to restock quickly," he said. "They should probably take a break. They look exhausted."

"That too," she said. "But look at what they have. There's nothing large to block line of sight of Nooby."

_He's not there._

So where was he?

"He must have been captured," Teela said. "Do you think they're just coming back for supplies?"

"No," Klik said, watching the others swim out to the raft. "Ooga wouldn't be back here if that were an issue. He would have sent the others back and gone after him."

"So why is he here now?"

"Because he needs help," he said. "And that's serious. Anything that would force him to retreat when Nooby was the one taken… I've seen him face down a lot, and I know he doesn't admit to being beaten easily."

"It's not being beaten if he's calling for reinforcements," she pointed out.

Klik smiled. "True. Ooga doesn't really think like that, but if he's just looking for backup, then we're in luck."

"Why else would he be here?"

"I don't know. But at least backup is something we can provide."

\---

They were all thin. Ooga looked _gaunt,_ eyes dull instead of gleaming, his weariness apparent as he accepted Sun's hand up without a word. He looked like he could barely stand on his own, and he was clutching the thingy like a lifeline.

That was… he couldn't even begin to categorize it. It was _wrong._ Ooga just didn't look like that. He couldn't look like that and still be breathing.

"You guys look, like, absolutely terrible," Toola said, eyes wide. "What happened?"

"Don't ask," Kinsee said, though her voice had none of the usual ire.

None of them looked the same. They all looked tired, _beaten._

"What happened to Nooby?" Linsee asked.

They all flinched, to some extent. Sun just looked at the ground, and Moon pressed her lips together firmly, but the rest of them winced like the words were the crunching sound of another untimely death.

He had _never_ seen Ooga look like that. Not even in whatever ancient memories he had lost, he was sure of it.

_Ooga reacts to stress with anger and determination. Outward anger, relentless and unyielding. That anger would dig him through a mountain if that was what it took. It would burn him alive if it got out of control._

If the anger was like fire, then Ooga had to keep prodding it, adding more fuel and pushing himself onward, even if he had to burn the fire poker when the wood ran low. And then he would have to use his bare hands.

But it would go out eventually, no matter what he tried. And then...

And then?

"He's dead," Ooga said, voice hoarse and almost as awfully dull as his eyes.

Dead?

"Dead?" Teela repeated.

"Neeboo, the guy who was sending those things after us," Sun said. "He had something. He called it the Gem of Death."

Gem of...

Oh, no.

"Gem of _Death?_ " Klak demanded. "What? How? Who is-"

"That sounds bad," Linsee said.

"It was," Kinsee said.

"And Newbie was there too," Booga said. "Little bugger wasn't dead after all."

Gem of Death. Nooby gone. Ooga looking like that.

Oh, _no._

"Nooby..." Moon began, then broke off, shaking her head. "He's not coming back."

Voices swelled around him, shock and anguish and denial and -

\- he knew the look on Ooga's face. He knew that feeling.

Stepping towards him, he gently pried the device out of his hand and clasped the other in his own. A full-on hug would have been better, but he wouldn't be thanked for doing that in front of the others.

Some things couldn't be fought with an inferno.

Ooga just looked at him, and there was no fire in his gaze.

"Come on," Klik said quietly. "Let's go home."

Home was where he needed to be. The others would be alright at home, and then Ooga could stop being the leader for a while. He needed to break down, no matter how shattering it would be, and start healing again.

They couldn't ask him to be the leader after losing Nooby, but they did need one. And so Ooga bottled his hurt and grief to be that leader, teetering on the edge of everything he was, withdrawing everything he had to pay his reckoning later.

It wasn't a healthy habit to get into, but it was the cost of leadership. Someone had to pay it.

Klik pushed his hurt and grief back into its bottle and turned to the tribe, reclaiming the familiar position between the cold wind of despair and the people he cared for. He would manage.

-:-:-

Ooga had still tried to shoulder some of the weight. Klik had made it clear that he already had enough weight to carry, and they were equals for a reason. It would help them all to shift responsibility to one side, at least temporarily.

He wondered if thinking like that made him a hypocrite.

Still, taking a day off wasn't going to magically fix everything. It would take more than a miracle to heal that kind of loss, especially for the first time. Ooga was unfamiliar with the pit he had fallen into, and wounds would only fester if left untreated.

They usually worked with a mutual care and respect. In times of stress they supported each other, sharing the burden, shielding the other when they needed to catch their breath.

Ooga had never run out of fuel before, not when the problem was still so impossible. He was tired and probably feeling very alone, and his world had been shattered right in front of his eyes. His strict policy for dealing with helplessness was _stop being helpless._

But he was helpless here, and hopeless. That awful combination had never come knocking before, not on his door, and now it had come crashing through the window with a vengeance.

The dratted thing seemed to always find Klik's spare key and let itself in uninvited.

This was Ooga's fight, and it might not be one he could win. Klik could take on his responsibilities, he could let him rest, but internally? Quiet support was not going to do it.

"There has to be something I can do," he said aloud.

Something. Anything. He had gone through this himself, for crying out loud, what had he needed?

"What do I have to offer that can help him?"

_Shhhnk._

Klik turned to see the device quiver from the sudden stop.

The steel arrow was pointed directly at him.

_Right. Proven hypothesis two: you don't have to touch the device to activate it._

But this did go against the third one, since he hadn't addressed it to the device... that one would have to be re-analyzed.

Later. Now he had another problem.

Klik, staring at it, stepped to the left. "Show me what I need to help Ooga."

It buzzed, swiveling to point at him again.

Just himself, apparently. Though maybe other things could help as well. "Find Nooby."

It didn't move.

_Truly gone, then._

Swallowing, Klik wiped his eyes and addressed it again. "Rotate by three hundred and sixty degrees left if the answer to this question is yes: can I help Ooga in any significant way?"

The arrow shot around the circle to the left, once.

A very strange development: the device could find answers to questions, though one had to be creative to get it to point to them.

So he could help him, but the device couldn't tell him how. Phrasing that into yes or no questions would mean playing hit-and-miss for the rest of the night.

Picking it up and facing the arrow away from him, he paused before saying "Rotate by three hundred and sixty degrees left if the answer to this question is yes: do I already know how to help Ooga?"

The arrow spun one hundred and eighty degrees left, pointing directly to him.

"Does that mean 'sort of'?"

Nothing.

"Spin three hundred and sixty degrees left if that means 'sort of'."

It spun another circle.

Well, informal language might be less specific, but it took less time. "Spin one hundred and eighty degrees if it's the same as my problem."

Nothing. Not even a twitch.

"Spin one hundred and eighty degrees if it can be fixed the same way as my problem."

Nothing.

"Spin one hundred and eighty degrees if Ooga needs my help."

The device spun.

Swallowing, Klik held it out at chest level. "Show me where Ooga is."

One last _shhnnnk_ , and it pointed north.

He pelted off, device in hand. Whatever he had to do, he would figure it out. He had to.

He just had to make a quick stop first.

-:-:-

"I don't know," Klak said dubiously.

Klik restrained a sigh. "They need someone to take care of them, someone to count on. The tribe has to hold together."

"I'm not exactly the go-to guy for feelings advice!" he protested. "Look, it's a nice thought, but shouldn't we leave the comforting figure role to someone else?"

"It's not about comfort, it's about protection." He tapped his head. "You know how bad it can get in here. I know you know."

Klak hesitated.

"They need to feel safe," Klik continued. "And being a leader means keeping them safe, no matter what. I'm not going to pretend that it's easy."

"Why can't you do it?" he demanded. "Are you trying to prove a point here?"

"I need your help," he answered. "You want to advance in authority? Then help."

"Hey, I didn't sign up for hugging duty!"

"You never know what you're signing up for," he said. "It's not just standing at the front of the line. If you want to keep the tribe safe, it means standing between them and whatever you find out there."

"I know, but…" He bit his lip. "Look. I want to help. But I don't think they want me to be the one helping them."

"Why not?"

"I'm no good at this."

"I beg to differ," Klik said.

"I haven't ever had to do it in my life!" He shook his head. "Not for something like this."

"They don't expect you to be perfect. When you're feeling lost and lonely, what are you looking for? Just be… there."

Klak paused. "I guess."

"So you'll do it?"

"No promises on how well I'll do it, but I'll try." He frowned, though not maliciously. "What are you going to be doing?"

"The same thing," he said. "Just with Ooga."

He winced. "Oh. Yeah, they were close."

"Try to stop them from following us, if you can," Klik said. "I think it's best if others aren't watching."

"Yeah."

He smiled, clasping his shoulder. "Thanks, Klak. You'll do fine. It's good to have someone to count on."

"I miss him," Klak said. "Nooby. I mean, we weren't exactly the best of friends, but we did live together."

"We'll all miss him."

"And I said he was the most expendable once. I wish I hadn't."

"No harm done," he said. "What you thought then can be forgiven."

"Do you think that if I had gotten what I wanted," Klak said, "and gone with them, I would be the one Newbie killed? I mean, Nooby didn't even want to go."

"I don't think so, no." He shook his head. "Newbie had a grudge. He probably would have killed Ooga."

Another stab of pain, carefully bagged, bottled and locked away. Later.

"You seem pretty calm," Klak observed.

"I have to be," Klik said. "Someone has to be, and Ooga can't be that person this time."

"Why not someone else?"

"I did ask you, didn't I?"

He smiled wanly. "Yeah. Well, thanks for that, I guess."

"For asking?"

"That might sound a little weird, but yes."

"Well…" It was true that he didn't usually entrust this kind of thing to others, though it hardly seemed like a favor. "You're welcome, in that case."

"Good luck," Klak said, turning away.

"You too."

There. Now he didn't have to worry about being the leader, at least for the night. He could focus on his task.

Gods knew it wouldn't be easy.

-:-:-

He wasn't the only one worried about Ooga.

His friend was sitting up against a rock in the middle of a small hollow, tucked underneath an overhang. It would have been incredibly difficult to spot, and even with the device to guide him, he had been ridiculously tricky to find. When Ooga wanted to get lost, he was nigh untraceable.

Someone had apparently disregarded this and traced him anyways, and was now standing in front of the overhang.

"You did your best," Sun said. "That's all we could ask for."

"It wasn't enough."

Ooga didn't sound angry, he sounded hollow. He almost missed the familiar, irritating smart remarks from when he seemed intent on making everyone else feel as ticked off as he did.

…No, there was no 'almost' involved. He did miss those days. Things were so much simpler and involved less heartbreak when it was just him being a pain.

"No one could have gotten out of that."

"You don't know that." Ooga shook his head. "It doesn't matter who could or couldn't."

Klik watched in silence, unwilling to intrude on the moment. Maybe Sun could do something, spark something in him.

She sighed. "Nooby would want you to be happy."

"Yes, well, unfortunately I can't be guilted into feeling better," he said.

That sounded snarky enough, but the tone... not quite right. He'd heard Ooga snark when he was in a bad mood many, many times, and it didn't have any of the sneer he tinged his words with.

"I can't think of any other lines I can say without sounding terrible and corny," Sun said. "Just take care of yourself, okay?"

"Alright."

Judging by their postures, neither of them really believed him.

"And you're sure no one knows this place is here?" Ooga asked. "Positive?"

Ah. No wonder it had been so difficult to get here… Klik had needed to ask the thingy for directions in a very roundabout way. Most of the paths were blocked off, and the direct route had not been an option.

"Teela might," Sun said. "I don't think she'll bother you."

"Good. Thanks, Sun."

The blonde nodded, spinning on her heel and vanishing into the trees. Not many people could navigate that forest safely, but she could be the exception.

Ooga waited until she was gone, then slumped against the rock and shut his eyes.

The mask crumbled.

It was like looking at someone completely different. One moment he was Ooga, albeit a hurt and numb Ooga. The next, the threads had untangled and the hurt, the numb, the _hopelessness_ had taken the face of someone he knew and stretched it on like a second skin.

Had he looked like that?

He was frozen. Part of him wanted to rush forward and _fix this_ , but another - a very small, afraid and selfish part, a side that he wished would fit into a bottle like the rest of the things he didn't want to feel - wanted to back away, try to forget that look, pretend that everything would be alright. Because that… that image didn't belong in a world where everything would turn out to be okay.

So he froze, holding absolutely still, and immediately realized that it was a good move anyhow. Ooga had let his barriers down, he wouldn't open up if Klik just walked in.

But even now, the blue-eyed pygmy took a deep breath, and the mask threaded back together again. Even when he thought he was alone, he didn't dare reveal that kind of pain.

No matter how painful it was to watch, it was an opportunity to help him.

Klik waited until he had sat there for a few minutes, showing nothing, before stepping into the hollow. "Ooga?"

Ooga stiffened, drawing back instinctively before he spotted him. "Oh, it's you."

"I thought you could use the company," he said, stepping closer. "No one followed me, and even if they did, I suspect they would be thoroughly lost."

"How did you find me?"

His voice was guarded, but less so than he had expected. That was a good sign.

"I didn't," Klik said, holding up the device. "And no one else will."

Ooga nodded, slowly, sitting back against the rock. "I thought you'd be with the others. They need you."

_Careful. Be gentle._

"I took care of it before I left," he said. "Mind if I join you?"

A long silence followed, and he could almost see him thinking. The dullness was still there, but it looked like he was trying to hide it now.

"Sure," Ooga said finally.

Klik sat next to him, setting the device down in front of them. "I don't blame you, Ooga."

"Of course not. No one does, apparently."

"I mean it," he said. "Considering how many times I've pointed fingers at you, you might do well to listen."

"Things change," he said. "You actually got a sense of humor."

Humor was good. Humor was better than nothing. Anything to drag him away from those dark jaws. "Maybe. But I've been thinking…"

Ooga glanced over at him, and he caught his gaze. Let him see that he was telling the truth for himself.

"…I don't think this is the same," he said. "Not when you've known him for so long. But I think you need to step back a little."

He blinked, looking bemused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean stop." Klik pressed the back of his finger to his cheek. "There's no one here. I want to _help_ you. You can stop trying to carry all this baggage."

Ooga's protest died on his lips, and he shut his eyes tightly. "I'm fine."

"I don't believe you."

The mask cracked a little, then reformed. "Just leave me alone. You don't blame me, great. I just want…"

"Being alone is not going to help you," Klik said firmly. "I'm not leaving."

Ooga was shaking. His hands trembled, his lips pressed together in a firm line, the facade slipping a little. Still, he shook his head again. "I'll be fine. I'll be alright, just- give me a second."

"Ooga. Listen to me." He grabbed his wrist, taking a deep breath. Maybe it wasn't the same, but he remembered that rationalization. He knew the reply. "Sometimes leaders have to put their feelings aside. I understand that. But if you keep doing it, you're going to collapse eventually. We all do. And there's nothing we can do about it. All we can do is wait until it won't hurt anyone."

Ooga turned his head away. And no matter how defiant it seemed, that was good. It meant that Ooga wasn't thinking as a leader, just as himself. He needed to think as himself for this.

"Nooby was your best friend," Klik continued. "And losing someone for good is… it's awful. Even thinking about someone just _stopping_ can hurt. Someone you know, someone you care for, that's so much worse. Bad enough that you'd do anything, anything at all, just to pretend that they're just hiding."

"Stop," Ooga said. His voice wavered a little.

He squeezed his wrist, trying to convey how much he wished he could. "But it's worse when you're right there. When you might be the only person who could have stopped it. When they _trust_ you, when you would trust them to do anything for you. Those people that you would disappear for, without hesitation, because them dying would be like losing a piece of yourself. And since no one else could do it, if you mess up, that has to be your fault. Right?"

" _Shut up._ "

He wished he could. He really, really did. But cauterizing the wound, burning out the infection, meant that he needed to make fire of his own.

_I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I know it hurts. But I didn't have anyone to say this to me, and I'm not going to let that happen to you._

"But it's not, really. They would never say it was. Because those people don't see you as just a leader, no matter how often you take charge or take the meteor for them. They see _you_ , and when they ask for help, they ask _you_ for help. They're a safe place to lock away the important pieces of you that you don't want to break. Losing that… losing them…"

He shoved him away, voice choked. "Stop it! Stop, I don't- I don't want to hear this!"

Klik stopped.

Ooga was staring at him, fists clenched, breath coming too fast and eyes wide. That wasn't fire, but it wasn't the terrible void of despair either. That was just a pygmy holding the torn and broken remains of his world, one with cuts on his fingers from clutching the glass too hard.

"He couldn't even protect himself," he said, unsteady and almost desperate, "that was _my job._ Nooby was my friend, my best friend, and I had to look after him. It's always been that way. He believed in me, and I looked after him. I failed him twice, and he still looked at me and _thanked me_ when he should have… should have…"

He buried his head in his hands, tucking up his knees and curling into a ball.

For a moment they just sat there, one of them watching the other shiver and try to breathe through a throat that caught and spasmed. He was clinging to the edges of the act, the mask that he didn't need.

"Ooga," he said, as gently as he could. "I trust you. You can trust me."

No response.

"I'm here," he said. "You don't have to pretend. I know what it's like, and I'd never think less of you for grieving."

"I trust you," Ooga said, voice muffled.

He looked so _small,_ like he was asking for protection. It had been a long time since he'd asked for that.

_We shield each other when we need to catch our breath._

Klik scooted over, wrapping his arms around his shoulders and pulling him close. He felt, rather than saw, the other pygmy slump against him.

There they sat in silent honesty, the occasional hiccup-sob shuddering through his body. He was letting himself be vulnerable, and that was not something he could do often.

Klik rubbed his back and wondered, not for the first time, when Ooga had crossed the line between trustworthy and irreplaceable.

"Why did it have to be him?" Ooga whispered. "Why _him?_ "

A grudge, he could have said. That was what Nooby had died for. But that wasn't really what he was being asked.

"I don't know," he said.

"It should have been me. I'm supposed to protect the tribe."

He wanted to protest, but he was more than absolutely certain that doing so would be very hypocritical. If he could die to protect anyone of the tribes from the same fate, he would do so. Ooga would probably call him out on it, too.

"I would have missed you," he said instead. "Nooby would have missed you, too."

"Better me than him."

There was really no arguing with him. "You're going to make yourself feel worse, Ooga."

"But it's true."

"You're not a scientist," he rebuked. "I can tell, because that's a ridiculous thing to believe. And that means that you are to concern yourself with being happy, not right."

Ooga muttered into his shoulder, but he did relax a little.

"Much better," he said.

He rumbled something that sounded like agreement.

That wouldn't fix the problem, not even close, but maybe it would help. Taking a step back, letting someone else step in and _be there_.

It wasn't just the loss. If it had been the loss, Klik might not have been able to help him at all, no matter what he had gone through. They were different, very different, and they dealt with reality in different ways.

Klik had grown used to standing firm against the world, a dangerous world that offered them no mercies. He maintained a small, relatively safe zone by the strength of his mind and the work he put in; life struck out, and he took as much of the blow as he could. Everything was out to kill them, and he knew better than most that _everything_ was a ridiculously high amount of things.

Ooga... did not work like that. He grew up in that safe zone, and as such his coping method was _get rid of the problem._ Minimizing the damage he took was the closest he came to playing the defensive side. He cut corners, he took shortcuts, he chose unusual paths to get the job done. Immortality had given him a habit of going right for the throat however he could, thinking that all hurts would be healed when he popped back.

They did need someone on the offensive, and Ooga was just the pygmy for the position. He was good at it. Klik had seen how useful that attitude could be, at least in some situations, and he had done his best to adapt a little more towards it.

Ooga sighed, almost inaudibly, and shifted a little to get more comfortable.

Life had not exactly been kind to Klik. He had invested his wellbeing in things he couldn't prove, trusting something he could only take on faith, and he had been wrong. He hadn't been ready to be wrong. That had cost him a lot.

[And it happened again. And again. Spiritualism seemed to involve a lot of trial and error, even with a Totem acting as his personal guardian.]

Depression struck hard, when it did, and that vicious blow stomped him into the ground every time. He would lay there, hurt and alone, his protection stripped from him.

And then he would pick himself up, patch up what holes he could, and move on.

Ooga couldn't do that. He had coasted on his sheer indomitable stubbornness and internal fire for as long as he could remember. When life pushed him, he sprang up and pushed back until he won.

Being stomped like that? Never happened before. And now that it had, he had no safety net, no defense mechanism that would help him when there was nothing to fight.

This was an awful way to learn how to cope.

"You alright?" he asked.

"I'm tired," Ooga said, moving his head so he could speak clearly instead of into his shoulder. "But yeah, I guess."

"Get some rest, then. I'll keep an eye out for a while."

"What about you?"

"I'm not the one that trekked across a desert," he said. "That means I get to fuss over you, and you have to put up with it."

"You know, you'd think I'd remember agreeing to that."

"You'd think so," he agreed.

Ooga laughed, a little, and pulled back. "Thanks, Klik. You're a good guy."

"Just a friend doing his job," he said, smiling at him.

_Is he thanking me for offering to keep watch, or everything else?_

Klik watched as his friend curled up, pressing subtly closer to him as he did. It barely took five minutes before he dozed off, with the shallow and rhythmic breathing of sleep and the relaxed muscles.

He gave him another five, just to be safe, before picking up the device and addressing it in a murmur. Maybe this wasn't the best place for it, but it was best to jump on the idea while it was still there.

"Find Nooby," he said softly.

Nothing.

Nooby couldn't be found. But if creative language was all it took...

"Find the source of the power of the Gem of Life."

The device jiggled. Impossible to answer, but possible to find.

"Find one of the sources of power of the Gem of Life."

It spun to point at Ooga.

That… was an interesting development. Not altogether surprising, when he thought about it, but if the connected pygmies somehow fueled the Gem...

"Find the source of power for Nooby's piece of the Gem of Life."

The device spun, pointing east.

That was getting somewhere.

"Spin three hundred and sixty degrees if Nooby is still linked to that power."

It spun.

Klik let out a shaky breath, taking it in both hands. That meant… that might mean…

"Find something that can bring Nooby back to life."

It spun again, pointing to the northwest.

His breath caught in his throat.

"Klik, you're a genius!" Ooga said from beside him, making him jump. "I can't believe I didn't think of that!"

"Wh- you're supposed to be-" Asleep. The noise must have woken him up. He had wanted to ask it more before he told him, not if it meant giving him false hope. False hope would undo everything he had worked for.

But Ooga had spotted a chance, something he could _do,_ and he had fixated on it. That was fuel enough to keep him going for days, maybe weeks on end.

Still, he smiled again, and that couldn't be all bad. That had to be worth something.

Right?

**Author's Note:**

> A hasty [which I apologize for] and ambiguous [which I shall not] ending. Whoops. Ah, well, might as well leave open some possibilities. 
> 
> I just want to hug everyone involved in this fic and the comic. I shall hug the mighty demon it is presented to and hope the characters get the required hugs soon.


End file.
